Fracking Victim Sued for Defamation After Proving Drinking Water Flammable

Weatherford, TX, homeowner Steve Lipsky has nothing to hide. He is not trying to take down Range Resources, a large oil and gas company with a reputation for bullying its critics, nor is he trying to defame the company as it has accused him of in a defamation lawsuit demanding more than $3 million.

Lipsky, a private, conservative man who made his nest egg in the banking industry, now finds himself playing the role of David against a modern day Goliath in a battle fraught with Kafkaesque moments. After what looked at first like an open and shut case of industrial negligence turned into a lengthy legal battle, he must either fight or accept financial ruin.

In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that Range Resource’s drilling activities at a nearby fracking project had contaminated Lipsky’s well. Lipsky can light the water coming out of his well on fire.

He discovered this when Peck’s Well Service, the company that drilled the water well in 2005, came to figure out why it wasn’t working properly in July 2010. Peck’s found that gas building up inside the well was lowering the water pressure and causing a gas lock. Peck’s lit Lipsky’s water on fire while explaining to him why it wasn’t functioning normally, showing Lipsky it was full of gas. They installed a vent to allow some of the gas to escape for safety reasons.

Lipsky decided to shut off the well to the house and has since trucked water in at an average cost of $1,000 a month to keep his family safe. Since then, Lipsky only turns on the well for testing and to demonstrate the phenomenon to journalists, the EPA, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Parker County Fire Marshal’s Office, the Texas Railroad Commission, Department of Justice and representatives of Range Resources.

On Oct. 10, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled that Range Resources could move forward with their defamation suit against Lipsky, based in part on accusations that Lipsky is misleading the public about being able to set his water on fire.

A point of contention is a piece of garden hose that Lipsky attached to the vent coming out of his water well headspace. In a video he released online and provided to regulatory agencies, Lipsky sets fire to gas flowing through the hose that he attached to the vent. Range Resources claims the use of the hose made it seem like Lipsky was setting his water on fire.

“The hose was used in the interest of safety, not to deceive anyone,” Lipsky counters. The first time he lit the vent on fire the whole well ignited. Lipsky attached the hose to direct the venting gas downwind of the well before lighting it again. In the video, Lispky never claims to be setting his water ablaze. Why would he make gas seem like flammable water, when he has water he can set on fire too?

Lipsky’s dream house has become a nightmare. He is not alone. Several of his neighbors have the same problem he does, but after witnessing what has happened to the Lipskys for fighting back, they’re reluctant to speak out.

Shelly Purdue recently went on camera with local TV anchor Brett Shipp, showing that she too can light her water well vent on fire. She too installed a vent to alleviate the problem but is still living in a volatile situation.

Other neighbors have installed expensive water filtration systems so they can drink their water but that doesn’t eliminate the danger. Independent testing has shown that several residents’ water well holding tanks are well above explosive limits.

A team from Duke University is conducting a study in the area and released information to the homeowners alerting them to the hazardous conditions. The final results of the study will be released in the coming months.

The EPA’s findings also established that there are dangerous levels of gas escaping from Lipsky’s well. They named Range Resources as the party responsible for the contamination and issued an Administrative Emergency Order against the company in December 2010.

This didn’t stop the Railroad Commission—a regulatory agency that governs all things oil and gas related in Texas—from holding their own hearings that cleared Range Resources, based on evidence provided by the company. The EPA chose not to participate nor did the Lipskys since both were only given ten days to prepare, making a fair hearing improbable.

Range Resources spent millions of dollars putting on a one-sided case for the Railroad Commission, attacking all of the EPA’s findings. Dr. Geoffrey Thyne, who conducted the testing for the EPA, reviewed the Railroad Commissions’ findings that cleared Range Resources. He wrote:

My conclusion, that the gas well could be the source of methane in the (Lipsky) water well, was based on the chemical and isotopic data. After reviewing the Range presentation to the Texas RRC my opinion is unchanged.

The Lipskys sued Range Resources after the EPA named the company the party responsible for contaminating the well. The family was promptly counter-sued by Range Resources for defamation.

The Lipskys’ lawyer, Allen M. Stewart, argued that the libel suit went against the Texas Citizens Participation Act, also known as the Texas Anti-SLAPP Act, which was passed in order to allow citizens sued in retaliation for the exercise of their constitutional and common law rights of freedom of expression to avoid the expense and burden of defending meritless suits for defamation, business disparagement and similar torts based on the exercise of those rights. The act achieves its purpose by allowing defendants in such suits to seek and obtain early dismissal before being forced to participate in costly discovery. But the Lipskys’ request to dismiss the case was denied.

The initial rulings against the Lipskys by Judge Loftin are problematic. Loftin found merit in Range Resources’ claim that Lipsky was purposely misleading the public by using the garden hose demonstration, a key element in the libel suit. But Loftin later recused himself from the case. Loftin’s bias emerged when one of his campaign fliers in his recent bid for reelection stated, “The EPA, using falsified evidence provided by a liberal activist environmental consultant, accused and fined a local gas driller of contaminating wells,” and “President Barack Obama’s EPA backed down only after Judge Trey Loftin ruled that the evidence was ‘deceptive.'”

Range Resources didn’t stop at suing the Lipskys. They also went after the EPA. After over a year of litigation, the EPA withdrew their emergency order requiring the company to provide drinking water to the Lipskys.

In a statement to the press, the EPA stated:

Resolving the lawsuits with Range allows EPA to shift the Agency in this particular case away from litigation and toward a joint effort on the science and safety of energy extraction. EPA and Range will share scientific data and conduct further well monitoring in the area, and Range will also provide useful information and access to EPA in support of EPA’s inquiry into the potential impacts of energy extraction on drinking water.

The EPA’s move hurt the Lipskys since it gave the appearance that the EPA had made a mistake. Why else would a regulatory agency back down when lives are at risk? However the EPA has never retracted their findings that proved Range Resources had contaminated Lipsky’s well.

Lipsky is still baffled by Range Resources’ test results and the letter they sent him and his neighbors on Feb. 2, 2011, assuring them their air and water were safe. One set of results the company produced shows zero gas in his well.

Either Range Resources’ tests were done incorrectly and are not credible, or based on the zero reading for gas in his well, Range Resources has provided Lipsky with a baseline he can use to show how much worse things have gotten since 2010.

The numbers for gas contamination are rising to the highest levels recorded nationwide, and Lipsky has the documentation to prove it, provided by Duke University and private testing conducted with the same equipment the industry uses.

In Sept. 2013, tests showed gas coming out of Lipsky’s water well measuring 162,000 parts per million (ppm). 50,000 ppm is considered a level for potential explosion. Air samples taken directly from the water well headspace vent showed levels exceeding 900,000 parts per million. Several residents alerted the Railroad Commission of new high-test levels, prompting the agency to reopen its investigation.

The Lipskys were not the only ones left bewildered when the EPA withdrew the administrative emergency order. Six Republican senators—James M. Inhofe (R-OK), David Vitter (R-LA), John Boozman (R-AK), Tom Coburn (R-OK), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)—also felt a need to question the EPA’s actions, sending a letter requesting the Attorney General investigate the matter. The Senators hope to prove the EPA is an activist branch of the government.

In a statement from the Republican minority of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, Sen. Cornyn said, “For too long the Obama EPA has sought headlines instead of facts, as was the case here. Texans deserve to know if this action was carried out in a politically-motivated way, in an attempt to demonize the entire industry and purposely mislead the public.”

The government shutdown has held up the Attorney General’s report but Lipsky is hopeful the truth will emerge.

Documents uncovered by ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA Channel 8 show Range Resources failed to cement their drilling operation despite being required to do so by the industry’s own standards. Doug Allmand, an engineering specialist for the Railroad Commission, is aware of this. He sent Range a violation letter on Aug. 10, 2010. According to Dr. Payne, a scientist hired by Lipsky from Pennsylvania, where fracking operations have contaminated wells in similar cases, this probably led to the contamination of Lipsky’s and his neighbors’ wells.

Steve Lipsky is now working with attorney Brent M. Rosenthal, who is preparing to petition for a writ of mandamus in the Texas Supreme Court asking to dismiss Range’s remaining claims for defamation and business disparagement against Steven Lipsky.

“I will assert,” Rosenthal says, “as I have before the Fort Worth Court of Appeals, that Range’s claims are meritless and threaten the exercise of First Amendment rights by Steve Lipsky and anyone else who speaks out on issues of public concern. I hope that organizations fighting for first amendment rights and social justice, as well as those involved in the environmental movement, will be concerned about the case and will work to persuade the courts to reject claims like Range’s claim against the Lipskys.”

Lipsky is saddled with legal bills and the expense of trucking in drinking water from a nearby town. He worries about his future, since his dream house has been devalued. He also worries about his neighbors living under the threat of a catastrophic gas explosion.

The stress is taking its toll on Lipsky’s health, as his spiking blood pressure attests. But Lipsky doesn’t have to worry about his property exploding, since his well remains turned off as a precaution.

In a culture where the oil and gas industry spends millions on PR campaigns and hires representatives with military backgrounds in psychological operations to intimidate private citizens, where regulatory agencies and scientists risk harassment when their results are not ‘industry friendly’, where lawyers don’t want to take on clients who have cases against industry for fear of losing business with energy producers, and where industry campaign contributions taint politicians and judges all the way up the ladder, how many people will fight back as staunchly as Steve Lipsky has?

Comments

Jj776

This is so messed up. They ruin his well and then sue him for telling the truth? How is it defamation if it’s actually true? How can anyone let them get away with this? Isn’t there someone in the political pool who isn’t getting money from the oil and natural gas companies that’s willing to stand up for our land and our neighbors? Our planet just keeps getting polluted and nobody cares that we will have nothing left for our children.

Richard Bell

Best Justice money can buy.

Jay Case

This is what happens when we the people don’t properly exercise our rights of democracy. I would bet hardly any of the congress that we have now gets voted out off office even though lately all of them have proved them selves by result to be inadequate of performing the duties we as nation have trusted them. Big energy tyrants now control the “world Power” literally, The sad irony is “WE” pay them the $$ they use to corrupt politics

AnotherBrian

Actually, the court found that he faked the entire thing.

elmer fudd

I’d feel a lot more sympathy for the dude if he didn’t live in that obscenely oversized trophy house

JMF

The size of his house has NOTHING to do with this. PLEASE try to stay on topic – ths isi too important to get side-tracked…

Alyssa Burgin

Yes, because this could happen to you, too, regardless of the size house you live in. The point here is that a corporation is out of control, and the regulatory agency which is supposed to be regulating them is instead making excuses for their behavior and siding with them against the affected persons. It doesn’t take much to have the ire of Range Resources come down upon you–I received a nasty three-page letter from them on Valentine’s Day of this year. Just for speaking out. Such is life in the Oil and Gas Empire.

elmer fudd

actually. the size of his house has a LOT do do with it. .because it’s pretentious wasting of resources like that that has led directly to the “need” for more drilling and fracking. .so get over yourself

Wascally Wabbit

Well, if they can screw over a rich guy in a trophy house with the resources to hire lawyers and fight back, just imagine what they would do to you, Elmer Fudd.

Jim Young

An advantage of the size of his house is that it shows the damage is not restricted to the 99%, it hits everyone. I hope any example of the percentage of any “damages” he has to pay compared to his personal wealth, will be applied to the energy industry and their backers in similar percentages. If they can inflict severe economic penalties on him if they win, I want the same percentages inflicted on them when they lose.

savetheplanet

It’s all due to corruption. Our earth is being destroyed and when there is no longer any clean water to drink, the people that were paid off can suck on their money for moisture!

Laurie=Ann

Be grateful Lipsky has the means to fight a legal battle, most folks don’t and their issues never make the media.

This is the reason why I tell everyone in Pa. that doing a Baseline water test BEFORE any drilling starts is the most important thing you can do to protect yourself from this industry. So again when people need the help from the EPA they walk away.

Jim Young

Please remember the Cheney/Bush attempt to close all the EPA Libraries and destroy the records. They apparently made the documents and studies they couldn’t get removed much harder to access, claiming “copyright protection concerns,” etc. One of the Culver City residents pointed out independent monitoring of sorts can be done with relatively inexpensive RMLD (Remote Methane Leak Detection) sensors that show false color images of methane leaks, much like thermal imaging equipment). Isn’t it odd that a relatively few outside observers can find more leaks than the industry that boasts of its technology to do so? See http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120919/few-oil-pipeline-spills-detected-much-touted-technology?page=show

HopeforAmerica

The Best Advice is NOT to Frack~! Fracking is BAD. The energy companies don’t give a damn whether
they destroy the environment and kill you and your famiy in the meantime. They care only about the Profits.

Jim Young

Seems yesterday’s comment is even more appropriate here:

Take a look at the Google Satellite shots of the Karnes City,
TX area, it’s a pincushion of pads that I have learned to watch for
while flying cross country. My main concern has been what the super
ramping up of fracking has been doing to our water supplies (through
use of so much and risking the safety of existing sources). Jerry
Fleming of the Western Research Institute, assured me “waterless
fracking” they use in Canada and the Eagle-Ford Shale play (South Texas)
makes it “safer” in areas I later found include Karnes City. So, I think
the aquifers,etc, are still at risk, and the fugitive methane and other
gasses are as dangerous, perhaps more dangerous, and the EPA (seemingly
a captured regulator) abandons their own studies as others suppress and
ridicule any independent studies. The Bush administartion tried to get
rid of EPA libraries (that would have had earlier baseline data) and
ties up access to what they couldn’t destroy through claims of copyright
protection, among other barriers I suspect.

Industry self reporting does not match what so many locals see for
themselves in any areas I ask local sources, like Culver City,
California, where many have technical backgrounds appropriate to valid
data acquisition. The Stanford Study, http://www.stanford.edu/~meehan/la/pubs/pubross.pdf
shows what can happen if you are persistent in wading through a year or
two of industry smoke screens (source gas was petrogenic, not biogenic,
means we seem to have been snookered into grossly underestimated damage
settlements, made before the definitive evidence was in). This seems a
well established practice to delay and minimize, proving too effective
in allowing the public to forget (or just remember the earlier “proof”
that they weren’t to blame).

Seems we need a cold case investigative force that can show us how
much they have fooled us with armies of lawyers, PR, lobbyists, and a
virtual 5-column of ALEC type Quislings doing their bidding. We can’t
trust them with our future, we need independent auditors and alternate
solutions research.

Added: I wonder if the counter suit allows for “discovery” of internal communications within Range Resources, or at the very least within the Texas Railroad Commission, I presume the stat government agency charged with protecting the state’s citizens from dangerous practices?

http://westchestergasette.blogspot.com/ WCGasette

Great comment! Thank you.

And to add: The RRC is not charged with protecting the citizens of Texas. It is charged with protecting fossil fuel and the operators who extract it from our earth. As we all learn more about the environmental causes of cancer and as we move through history and into the 21st century, it is abundantly clear that the way forward is not backward to what the industry likes to think is a “new” era of fossil fuel. You know, the one that is destroying our already fresh water in Texas and squeezing every last drop of gas and oil from the shale rock deep in our earth. Our Railroad Commission of Texas needs to be retired along with all fossil fuel, sooner and not later.

Concerned for mankind

Disgusting! How can they get away with this?

redacted

Starts with a ‘c’ and ends in ‘ash’.

Sadly.

RobNYC

I think this guy was also in the documentary Gasland II (or maybe the first one).

http://westchestergasette.blogspot.com/ WCGasette

Gasland II.

http://westchestergasette.blogspot.com/ WCGasette

Gasland II.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1075634459 Dani Miller

Well from what I learned, defamation cant be claimed as long as the person being sued can prove that their claims are true. If the water is in fact flammable they dont have a case. Also I dont see how he could have caused so much damage to a corporation. He is one individual. Of course publishing on the internet opens things up to a large audience, but one could argue that fracking has caused damages to many people’s lives as well. I hope his attorney is able to turn this shit back around on them.

redacted

“Well from what I learned, defamation cant be claimed as long as the person being sued can prove that their claims are true.”

That’s my understanding as well, but I don’t think a victory in court (in the defamation suit) is Range Resources’ ultimate goal.

Their intent, as is so often the case with the counter-suits of industry, is to bleed the individual’s resources and will to fight with a protracted legal battle. This case is unusual in that the citizen can (apparently) afford to continue his pursuit of redress.

They don’t care if they win the battles as long as they win the war.

Angelica

How is he to prove something that’s technically not true? Water is not flammable, it’s a product of combustion, but that doesn’t mean that there is enough gas in his well and coming out of his piping to make the water appear flammable and that the demonstration makes that point. Simply fracking activity is leaking into everything, gas being released is building up and leaching and the chemicals used for treatment are probably entering the water supplies (he doesn’t make that claim here, but that’s been the case in other regions). It’s dangerous and he demonstrates how the gas is leaking by making it concentrate through the hoes and pushing it out with water. He literally lit the water on fire… but he didn’t. So basically he’s liable for people’s failure to understand science and even if he’s not found liable his activism is being targeted, the industry is setting an example for those who may think about speaking out in the future.

mike tyson

If that was my water and Range did that to me my temper is so bad their is no way i could stop myself from storming these people homes. There would be another mass TV night. The southern hillbilly trailer trash frackers are not thinking of their familys which is fare game.

Clearly the EPA got new marching orders (‘What? You’re actually performing your duties and attempting to hold industry accountable for their irresponsible behavior? This must stop immediately! For whom do you think you work?’).

“… in support of EPA’s inquiry into the potential impacts of energy extraction on drinking water.”

Thus read their post-marching orders press release. Yet…

“…the EPA has never retracted their findings that proved Range Resources had contaminated Lipsky’s well.”

What, they don’t even read their own findings?

Their use of the word “potential” is a shameful indictment of an agency whose actions are supposed to be based on solid science.

Everywhere a citizen turns, he/she can clearly see that our public institutions are failing; not because their missions are dubious or unworkable, but because they’ve been hobbled to the point of uselessness by the wealthy class and the pursuit of their own economic interests.

Brandeis said “”We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”

Until we as a nation decide that the inheritance class has for too long been allowed to manipulate our society to their own exclusive advantage, we’ll continue to see people like Mr. Lipsky (wealthy though he is) get railroaded, and agencies like the EPA fail in their mission (or, rather, succeed in their newly defined mission… Permitting egregious behavior by for-profit companies while giving the appearance of protecting the public).

As an aside, it’s worth noting that if Mr. Lipsky were like the vast overwhelming majority of us, we wouldn’t ever have heard his story, nor would their be any ‘fight’ to report.

It was only his significant personal wealth that enabled him to raise any objection at all – Most of us wouldn’t have the money to even test our water, let alone hire a lawyer to represent our position. Sadly, with de-clawed agencies like the EPA as our only ‘defenders’, for most Americans it’s ‘no money, no justice, no chance’.

“We, the people” have become second class citizens, while the wealthy have become ‘super’ citizens. Their interests are represented and addressed, while ours are ignored or given Orwellian lip service.

People can delude themselves or play pretend, but that’s how it IS.

If we are to see ourselves through even the next decade, something has to change. This one-sided class war has to stop, or be answered in kind.

We are doomed

All I can say is wow. American corporations are in control of everything. Your whole system is corrupt and dysfunctional. Money means more to America than anything. Even life. What a world we live in.

Frank Schiffel

Texas has always been business friendly and anti regulation. Since Bush and Perry they have gone hog wild backing industry against ordinary Texans. The EPA though should go after these SOBs.

nlb

Mr. Lipsky & Family , Hang in there .& keep us posted . Your Not alone in this .

The Doctor

Total madness,a corrupt system gone full circle.Is this what we want for our children and grandchildren,only a sick psycho brain twisted moron would say yes.God left this nation a long time ago,now you will paddle in your own swill.

Laura McGill

These stories are going to become common place, but unfortunately, it will be too late. I have personally witness the destruction of our country, eventually, the earth. I am fighting to stop fracking in Upstate NY. In one way or another, they get in, we now have the Spectra Pipeline in NYC, in operation. I hope Pres Obama will never approve The Keystone Pipeline or allow fracking in our National Parks. This is a Republican driven industry, void of regulations (Halliburton Loophole), courtesy of DICK Cheney. The Pres will get all the blame, the Republicans will profit and people will lose their homes, land and health. The mainstream media MUST start reporting on this. They are being paid off too? This story, like so many others, should be shared on a daily basis,so when you say the word “Fracking”,people no longer say they have no idea of what you’re talking about, but taking to the streets and fighting for their lives.

mike tyson

The only way to beat them is kill them.

Holly

It’s Texas, why would you expect anything good to happen in Texas? It is owned by the oil companies.

http://westchestergasette.blogspot.com/ WCGasette

Because it has to change here, too. Many are working very hard to educate. It’s especially challenging for sure. But we have hope that change will happen.

http://westchestergasette.blogspot.com/ WCGasette

Because it has to change here, too. Many are working very hard to educate. It’s especially challenging for sure. But we have hope that change will happen.

It’s great that you are publicizing this, but the article is a bit confusing and might actually feed the case against Lipsky. The case seems to charge that he misled people by making it look like he is setting the water on fire, when in fact it is the gas being vented out of the well. The EPA and other testers only speak of gas in the well(s). The article even states that “Lipsky sets fire to gas flowing through the hose that he attached to the vent.” And then someone slaps a headline — about the only thing that will appear in search results and posts, etc. — that reads “… after proving drinking water flammable”??? This could be just an all-too-common case of headline overkill, except that the article also says the well service company “lit Lipsky’s water on fire.” So which is it? Are you trying to say that the water really is flammable? Or that Range is abusing the legal system by falsely claiming that Lipsky is trying to deceive people into thinking the water is flammable? You need to tighten up your editing, before Range produces this article in court as supporting evidence.

Jim Young

The gas is mixed in with the water but separates quickly enough in high enough quantity to mix with oxygen and burn at the outlet. Though there are supposedly cases where this occurs naturally, it seems much less flame than areas where they are “stimulating” wells by pressurizing the formations, in turn causing higher amounts of gas to come out with the water. I suspect all the effort to suppress old EPA data, close the regional libraries and create as many barriers as possible to data, is to suppress as much pre-fracking baseline data as possible. They certainly seems to try to prevent new baseline data from being gathered by trusted independent observers, or to let anyone else try to independently verify the self reporting they do to captured regulatory agencies (staffed by revolving door former industry workers, and legally constrained far more than should be allowed from speaking freely on data reliability).

Jon Miller

if you want to see what gas well fracking chemicals will do to you and your children,go to youtube and type in two years working around fracking sites and see what their dangerous toxic chemicals have done to my mother,open sore lesions and severe vomiting

Pacares

I have come to the conclusion that at least in Pa. that we can not trust 1 politician because one way or the other they get money from this industry and they make the rules. We need someone who has NO ties to the industry and who is willing to take them on and be our voice for our children’s futures.

VAppalachia1

Do you know what Range Resources obscene and ironic billboards all over southwestern PA’s gaslands say?
“Range Resources: Drilling is just the beginning.”

You can’t make this stuff up, it’s so shameless.

Hang in there Lipsky family!! I hope the ACLU comes to your defense.

mike tyson

They won’t trust me. America is to far gone. I believe the oil industry will poison every bit of water in America and blame it on something else. And even if there is one clean drop left they will poison that for one last dollar. These people are scum.

VAppalachia1

With you on the greedy mendacious oil & gas industry, Mike. How sad that this mind set is held by many in this regressive industry, and that their claws are in the meat of our system so deep, they can’t imagine letting go.

But more and more people are beginning to understand this and to turn away. It’s so important to educate and help people understand that there are alternatives, and that there are ways to fight back and move forward.

Dawn Douglas Stowell

The Gov’t must stop this insane fracking, why not Solar or wind???? wtf citizens, let’s do something about all of this corruption.

Happy Saddless

I live in the Northern Rivers ares of New South Wales…Australia…There is also much concern here for the health of our land,air and water if the Coal Seam Gas Industry gets a bigger foothold in this area…We have seen many examples of how much destruction has been caused by this type of activity around the world…It seems like many states in America have been been completely screwed…Where do these morons think that their food comes from ?…and they seem to enjoy the fact that they are causing so much hardship, for so many of their fellow citizens…’squash them into submission and walk right over them’…There are also many in the UK who have joined the fight against the CSG industry…etc…etc…GREED NEVER SLEEPS…However we will continue to fight…Many people who have never protested before, have become so enraged to think that their governments (Federal and State)are happy to sell them out to the highest bidder,that they are rising up…Many groups including The Knitting Nannas Against Gas,are building support and media attention both here and on the national stage for their peaceful protests…Many local artists are also donating their time and talents at rallys and special events to highlight the peoples voices protesting against CSG mining of any type…We are fortunate also to have many of our local government councillors who support the ongoing protests…United we stand…It comes down to this I believe…If we as concened citizens of this planet wish to leave an Earth worth living on, for future generations…The time has come to stand up and be counted…Do what you are able to do by supporting each other and drive the message home… That we love our World like it is and reject the Greed that is trying to devour it…From one seed can grow a forrest…

http://www.geilt.com Geilt

I don’t think anything can really be done at this point. Everyone is bought. Most people, given the chance, would get bought too if put in the same positions of power…

Really, who can do anything about stuff like this? Money speaks. Not many do anything out of what’s right anymore. Sure, I would, you would, but we won’t be getting in office anytime soon

As a whole, I feel we are too comfortable watching atrocities happen to make any move that would get us out of our comfort zone.

Tom McFadden

Stop being so depressing and start thinking creatively. Why won’t you be in office? Is it because elected leaders have to balance competing interests? That’s life, let’s get to it.

http://www.geilt.com Geilt

Perhaps you are right…

Tom McFadden

Sorry, I realize I sounded harsh. I still believe people with conviction can educate and influence the public to inspire the political will that creates positive change and appropriate environmental regulation. Here’s to more of that!

toptwome

I agree with that as far as your comment goes. But if your water is ruined and you have to move and lose the home you lived in for 22 years you would be very angry and want retribution. But there is none to be had. President Obama is failing us in this way and I supported him. He is the one who must get the EPA to regulate and to stop this damage to our water and air.

WhatIsGoingOn

It’s really time to prosecute Dick Cheney for his various crimes. He’s responsible for fracking being exempt from clean water laws. Not to mention his war crimes.

mike tyson

Cheney is the biggest scumbag in America. I will take Bin L over Cheney any day.

Call Me Crazy

Buy an electric car.

Georgann Putintsev

We need to establish GENERATION LAW: Clean Water, Clean Earth, Clean Air, and Clean Fire/Energy for All generations and the bio-diversity of our towns, cities, counties. It must be the first LAW of the land and backed by the Golden Rule: you pollute or contaminate 100% profits of said corporation and 100% property of the BOD & top officers of the company’s is forfeit & that includes all Family funds/here there or offshore. That those families have to reside on the Land they polluted or contaminated and participat in the Cleanup process to the 7th generation.
This would help weed out the Greed! The second is reducing our own carbon footprint in the world.
The United States of AMerica has been under attack for a long time, and it really took off after WWII when we did not hold US Nuremberg trials here for elite US Nazi’s. Not only has the US allowed most Americans to become built-in by products of the resources they consume; but also of the illnesses and drugs they need to combat them. You have to ask yourself if you would take a Job that hurts another, just for the sake of a Salary to feed your buy-product family. It’s time we understood that we are responsible for keeping our nation strong, beautiful and LIVEABLE …from sea to shining sea. We need to participate in the change and also in fostering Earthjustice for the sustainability of this Blue Dot.
Angel Loans in establishing a Community owned Wind or Solar Plant in your regional area is a start.

Kim Wilson-Young

Your governor & all Republicans wants to get rid of regulations, God help us .

mike tyson

republicans are bottom of the barrel scum.

http://sadbutmadlad.com/ SadButMadLad

So methane is in his water. Methane might be explosive and it does need venting from the water but its not toxic. So he is wasting $1000 a month for nothing.

And this is nothing to do with fracking other than a well has been drilled. The same problems would occur with oil wells if the contractor didn’t cement the wells properly.

juluu

The fracking company was exposed that they didn’t follow the cement rules when they drilled. Then say that their tests show ZERO percent gas buildup, when we see that there is definitely gas in the well. That right there should show the courts that the company is lying. Throw the book at them.

Jim Young

Please ask the residents in the area, especially any with an ounce of scientific training. The industry self reporting is often an order of magnitude more favorable to them , and never seems to match what truly independent observers see.. As juluu implies, if the water out gases enough methane to burn as shown, yet the company reports ZERO percent gas buildup, somebody is lying through their teeth or totally incompetent. I don’t suspect the homeowner of somehow putting the gas in the water, and even in areas where some might occur, it seems that stimulating the wells does increase the pressure far more than the companies report. We suspect their reports of pressurizing a stimulated field in Culver City to 1/3 of an agreed upon maximum ground deformation have actually been done at nearly 10 times the industry self reported level (roughly 3-1/3 times the maximum agreed upon level, and the reason foundations and walls are cracking now, despite not doing so in the previous 30 years of operation). I doubt they used such high pressure for most of the previous 30 years.

juluu

If it’s not a problem, I want to see the fracking company drink the water coming out of the wells for a year. Make it MANDITORY for them to do so, to prove their point there is no problem with the well.

Toby Pollett

I’ve worked in the oil and gas industry for years and I’m wondering how a drilling company gets away without cementing a casing. Assuming Range Resources are a bunch of corporatist psychopaths even they would have a problem with an unfixed casing, Formation gas would slip up the sides of the casing instead of up the tubing (that is actually connected to a pipeline through the “Christmas tree”) resulting in lost revenue. Ranger may be OK with poisoning people put losing profit? Unforgivable.

http://westchestergasette.blogspot.com/ WCGasette

Actually, they violated Statewide Rule 16, 3.37 which says they must isolate formations that are not necessarily in the pay zone. They didn’t want the gas in the shallow Strawn Formation but in the much deeper Barnett Shale and they didn’t isolate the Strawn formation as they drilled through it.

No matter where you go in this world big money has the control of the politicians and the agencies that are under their control. The offending company in this case, would sooner spend millions of dollars on legal fees to bring a citizen to his knees than spend far less money to alleviate the problem. The issue of fracking was recently on TV and, as a Canadian, I was very interested as this same situation is starting to raise its head in Canada. As long as these companies have the almighty dollars pouring into their pockets and they fly around the country in their private jets they don’t give a damn about the rest of us or the environment.

terri valko

No one ever believes that this happens here every day. Wake up people.Get rid of the floride so you can think

Dennis Hagy

I no what there going through, . the gas companies messed our water up and we had to move from our homestead of 22 years, I had a baseline water test and a admission of guilt on audio tape,and all kinds of evidence, and the federal courts wont even let us have a hearing, its called corruption,and our 7th amendment rights have been violated, the courts and the epa and the politicians are in there pockets, we lost every thing i worked for 25 years thanks to fracking and drilling, we need to have are case go national, good luck to the lipskys maybe this will open some doors for them

Kevin Bunn

Lets see. Obama is colluding with Big Energy to hide the facts in this case? Does that sound a little fishy to anyone?? I have 4 gas wells around my cabin in PA and all is well… We had the same type of fraud attempted near me in Dimock, PA. The claims are fraudulent because gas has existed in many drinking wells for years in PA and many other states. It is a nature occurrence in any geological structure that contains gas, oil and or coal. Methane exists and any carbon based energy exists. Blame mother nature not the gas companies…

mike tyson

You lying scumbag. You are a liar. Every ones water is poisoned. What a low life scum bag

http://kcender.com/ Kcender

You are obviously some bored kid.

mike tyson

I know for a fact that fracing company’s are nothing but a bunch of lying scumbags. Nice way to live your life poisoning thy neighbors water.

mike tyson

wait til the wells that are capped break 2 miles down . Those pipes will break for sure . The gas companys know this will happen. Only a stupid person would believe the earth does not shift. It’s just a matter of time. I dont believe you anyway. I know of no water wells that are not contaminated that are next to gas wells. Give a gps location and i can check. If you don’t then you are a liar.

smytor

More evidence that ‘money is the root of all evil’. It is the ‘life blood’ of corporations, which are now proclaiming their power and authority over the entire earth, even though they are really just a group of mostly men board members slavishly doing whatever is necessary to appease the colossal appetites of their shareholders while storing up millions they don’t need or deserve. ‘Multinationals’ will stop at nothing to enhance the bottom line, and if anyone gets in the way, they are toast. Evidence of this is everywhere in our time. Take Ecuador for example. The film ‘Crude’ is very informative.

Elliander Eldridge

He should connect his well to a furnace. After heating his home through the winter entirely from water he pumps out of the ground he can then go into court and says that “If my findings are incorrect, how can I use it to heat my home?” and then he should bottle and sell it to fund his legal battle. Maybe a little direct competition will give them a reason to clean up their act.

mike tyson

I would use it to burn the house down and then move . Insurance would have to cover it. And then i would move by one of the employees of range and that is where there nightmare would start.

SonnyBoy

I believe that his lawsuit was thrown out due to false and misleading statements & videos.
The video shows a garden hose supposedly supplying water when actually it is a
gas vent port on the side of the well. The Trinity Sand sits just above a known, shallow gas zone, call the Strawn. Good try, crook, Range will settle with you in court!

stormykitteh

So you suggest their methane-enrichment is due to water percolating through that shallow gas zone? It would be interesting to know if that were the case.

mike tyson

He works for the company. He is a low life hiding behind a key board. No guts just likes to poison kids.

mike tyson

Range is a scumbag company like you Sonny you are a typical low life Texas scum bag . Nothing but pipes to head for you.

stormykitteh

Wow, Trey corrupt much? He deserves a full colonic with that water and then to be chased by children with sparklers – all the way out of town. Or just a conviction for corruption and some picking up trash from the side of the road and having only the flammable methane-enriched water to drink. And I am for fracking if it can be done w/o contaminating aquifers.

mike tyson

How many scumbag Repukes are in here defending Range . This guy should be owning the gas company. If that were me the CEO would be dead and i would be in jail. The only things these scum bag fracking company understand is if you go after their kids like they are doing are’s

mike tyson

Who are the real terrorist. Come on people/. Cheney and his fracking scumbag friends are the real enemy. Bin L could have helped us against this water destroying machine. Big oil is America’s worst enemy . They are the insurgents. Did you know these scumbags are using military style practices for people against fracking. They call us insurgents. And are using that way of thinking. Fracking has to stop even if we have to start taking hostages. These low life scum billionaires walk among us. It would be easy to start taking them out.

mike tyson

Repukes and Democrats have to go . Both parties are the enemy to America . It is not rocket science.

mike tyson

Jeff Ventura is the scumbag that needs to be taken down. Jeff is a cold blooded killer. JEFF VENTURA HAS POISONED MORE WATER AND KNOWS HE CANT BE STOPPED. He is a serial killer . Range Resource head serial killer.

Kelli

Indeed, government is owned by corporations when it comes to natural resources. Water is such a valuable resource that becomes scarcer everyday and at least 2 billion people are without clean drinking water around the world. Yet corporations and interest groups are throwing away a valuable natural resource and further polluting the environment. When someone tries to speak up about their harm their punished for revealing the truth. Theres no hope for the world.

Kevin Smith

He was caught hooking his water line up to a gas tank… idiot.

http://welcomebacktopottersville.blogspot.com jurassicpork

This guy made a small fortune in banking and didn’t realize after decades on Wall Street he didn’t know “the system was broken”?